World Congress (Civ6)
The World Congress is a new gameplay mechanic in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm and is the key to the new Diplomatic Victory. It is in many ways similar to the World Congress from Civilization V: Brave New World, but it also differs in some key aspects, as you will see below. What is the World Congress? The World Congress is a congregation of all world leaders, who get together regularly to discuss the world's problems and attempt to change the way one or another aspect of life develops (as suits their private interests, of course). The meetings start when the world reaches the Medieval Era - we can surmise that before that everyone is too busy fighting off Barbarians or conquering nearby kingdoms. Note that you don't need to meet all world leaders for the World Congress to start its sessions! The ones you haven't met will appear as question marks in the World Congress panel, and you will have no info about them. The frequency of subsequent meetings (or sessions) depend again on world Era: the more advanced it is, the more frequent the sessions. All of this (excluding the first session starting whether or not you've met all other leaders) is similar to Civilization V's ''World Congress. The World Congress meets for two distinct types of sessions: Regular Sessions These are the sessions everyone knows of and prepares for. They happen at regular intervals, as described above. In these sessions the Congress discusses important world matters, and then proposes '''Resolutions' which are discussed and then voted on (check below for greater clarity on Resolutions). What exactly these matters are, and what Resolutions are voted on, depends on the current World Era: each distinct Resolution has the chance to appear only during a particular timeframe (much like separate Dedications from the Ages system only appear during select game eras). When will that be depends largely on the current historic moment - for example, the World Religion resolution won't appear in the Modern Era, just as Climate accords won't appear in the Renaissance Era. Later in the game, Scored Competitions also enter the fray, with the Olympic Games, World's Fair, and other types of world-wide events providing nations with the opportunity to race each other and win Diplomatic Victory points. Special Sessions The Congress may also meet to respond to Emergencies, such as grave natural disasters, or the outrageous behavior of a particular leader. This is a key difference with Civilization V, because it makes the Congress a much more flexible mechanism, capable of responding instantly to important events in the world. The Emergencies are the very same game mechanic introduced in Rise and Fall, which has now been incorporated into the World Congress. Unlike regular Congress sessions, Special sessions may happen at any moment in the game. Some event somewhere in the world will trigger the opportunity for a Special session: the logic used is the same as in the Emergencies mechanic from Rise and Fall. The difference is that now emergencies will have to pass through all the leaders' judgment before being enacted; players are unable to singlehandedly undertake an emergency if the others refuse it. The following types of Emergencies may become reasons for Special sessions: Furthermore, Special Sessions are not triggered automatically, like Regular ones. When the Emergency reason comes online, all affected countries will receive the opportunity to call the Session, but this will cost them 30 Favor. Only after that, the Special session will occur (at the end of the next turn), and the Congress will discuss and vote on whether or not to undertake the Emergency. The target of the Emergency will then have the opportunity to vote the proposal down, which may be especially useful for aggressive nations which will be threatened regularly with Emergencies due to their aggressive behavior. If some nations vote 'down' the Emergency, but it passes nonetheless, these nations won't participate in the ensuing competition, and won't have the chance to win anything. Note that reasons for Special Sessions don't expire! If the cause is still valid (for example, a City-state had been conquered in the early game and is still part of the aggressor nation in the Modern Era), the affected nations will still be able to call a Special Session. Only after a reason for Emergency has been voted on on a formal Session will it vanish. Resolutions Resolutions are the meat and potatoes of the World Congress: they are the specific proposals about certain gameplay aspect which are 'discussed' during regular Congress sessions, voted on and accepted or rejected. Accepted resolutions enter into effect until the next regular session of the Congress and affect the game world in certain ways. In a major development (compared to Civilization V: Brave New World) each resolution can now be voted on in two different ways: a 'positive' and 'negative' way. For example, the Urban Development Treaty may either boost towards all buildings in a certain district, or ban any new buildings in it. This additional flexibility allows unparalleled strategic opportunities to not only help players' own plans, but also hinder their rivals'. In each session two resolutions are proposed, but since each one can be voted on in two ways, you will have four total choices to consider. Of course, you won't be able to vote for both versions of the same resolution at the same time. Once a resolution passes, its effect becomes mandatory for the game world until the next World Congress session. Resolutions cannot be revoked as they could in Civilization V, simply because their effects are no longer permanent. * Comments in the XML files indicate that this resolution has not been implemented yet. Scored Competitions The second major type of events discussed and undertaken in the World Congress are Scored Competitions - events which run for a particular number of turns (usually 30), and during which all nations do something to compete towards a particular goal. These actions net a score towards the victory in this particular competition. After the time runs down, a winner is declared (obviously the nation with the highest score); there are also Silver prize winners (the Silver tier), which are all nations whose score falls within 25% of the winner's, and Bronze prize winners (Bronze tier), whose score falls within 50% of the winner's. All other nations receive nothing. Scored Competitions are usually undertaken in the late game. There is one exception, however: Disaster Aid. This competition may be asked for via a Special session of the Congress every time a nation gets hit by a severe natural disaster, and awards Diplomatic Victory points on completion. Diplomatic Victory vote Finally, a special Diplomatic Victory discussion may be proposed regularly, starting from the Modern Era. Obviously, this will be the most important session for any player pursuing a Diplomatic Victory, but also for those trying to stop their rivals from achieving it. There are 2 possible outcomes to vote for: # Award 2 Diplomatic Victory points to a leader. # Take away 1 Diplomatic Victory point from a leader. Voting and Diplomatic Favor The voting system in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm's World Congress is entirely different from Civilization V or Civilization IV. Whereas before City-States gave additional voting power to nations, this function now belongs to the brand new diplomatic currency, . The system is much more centralized, in a way, but at the same time much more flexible. Whereas before the only way towards bigger World Congress control - and ultimately a Diplomatic Victory - was influencing City-states (which would allow you more votes in every circumstance), now you can play a much more subtle game to gradually earn favor, in the form of a currency, with the world in general. This favor can then be 'converted' during sessions of the World Congress to swing the voting process where and when you want it. And, you don't depend on any single game system in order to advance thus; rather, you have a range of options open to you. You cannot negotiate directly with other leaders concerning voting in the World Congress, as you could in Civilization V, but you can do so indirectly. Voting in the Congress now depends heavily of the new currency, , and this you can trade directly with other leaders (as well as earning it in many other ways). In a way, you can thus buy their voting power, without negotiating on any specific agreement. The voting process In the new World Congress voting is a bit more complicated than it used to be, largely due to there being more voting options than before. You now need to select not only whether you're in favor, or against a Resolution (or Decision, or whatever), but many times you must also choose a particular target of this Resolution! In the above example (the Urban Development Treaty) you need to choose what particular district will be affected by the Resolution, as well as exactly how it will be affected (whether producing buildings in it will be boosted, or banned altogether). Then you will need to allot Votes for the chosen option. The first vote for each nation for each Resolution is free. That means that you can vote at least once for each resolution, without this costing you anything! However, from there on you can 'purchase' additional votes for your choice, by spending . Each new vote will cost you 10 * num_additional_votes Favor; so if you want to purchase three more votes you will need (10*1) + (10*2) + (10*3) = 60 additional Favor. There appears to be no upper limit to how many votes you may buy thus - it all depends on how much total Favor you have, and what you will decide to spend. The strategic options are endless. The practical difference with Civilization V's ''World Congress system is that now it will be very difficult for any single nation to exercise permanent control over the body. Whereas previously the votes it could count on were more or less stable (depending on total number of influenced city-states), now the votes depend on accumulated . And whenever the nation decides to swing a vote, it will have to spend its Favor, and then wait some time for it to build back up. During this time other nations will have the opportunity to affect voting! This system is similar to how Great People are attracted, and how it is really difficult for a single nation to totally control all of them. Voting outcomes The winner for each vote is determined according to the following criteria: * A simple majority is considered in the cases of Resolutions, Competitions or Emergencies with no additional options (for example, if the question is whether an Emergency will be undertaken, or not). Votes pro- and contra- are summed up and compared to each other. * For Resolutions with two possible outcomes, the outcome with more pro- votes wins over the other one; * When the winning outcome has additional options to choose from (in the Urban Development Treaty example that option would be the exact district affected), the most voted option will win. If each option accrues equal number of votes, a random one will win. This is often the case when a player needs to be chosen (for example in the Border Control Treaty): players will most often vote for themselves, if they prefer Outcome A. In this case it is worth spending at least 2 Votes for yourself, since the computer players usually often spend only 1; with all other options having 1 vote, while YOUR option has more than one, you will win! Since each resolution has two outcomes and each outcome can have a number of options, there are 3 possible results of your vote: # '''The outcome you voted for won with the option you voted for.' That means not only that the Resolution you chose passed, in the variant that you wanted (positive or negative), but also with the additional option you chose. # The outcome you voted for lost. That means that the Resolution didn't pass at all, or that its opposite variant was passed. In both options you receive a 'consolation prize' - a full refund of any Favor you spent. # The outcome you voted for won with a different option from your choice. In the above example (the Urban Development Treaty), the 'positive' option you voted for (buildings in a district will be boosted) passed; however, a different district than the one you chose received more votes. In this case, you will receive a half-consolation prize in the form of 50% Favor refund. Trivia * The banners that appear in the World Congress menu are the symbols of the civilizations that are currently in the game. Related achievements Category:Game concepts (Civ6)